National
Close race between Trinamool and BJP in four-cornered contest at Medinipur
Kolkata, April 1 (IANS) Medinipur constituency in West Midnapore District of West Bengal is one of the few among the 42 Lok Sabha seats which will witness a four-cornered contest, following the failure of seat-sharing talks between the Left Front and the Congress there. It is expected to be a tight race between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress.
Medinipur is also a Lok Sabha constituency where the BJP replaced its 2019 winning candidate.
The BJP’s ex-National Vice President and former West Bengal President, Dilip Ghosh, who got elected by a margin of over 88,000 votes has been asked by his party to contest from Bardhaman-Durgapur in West Burdwan District.
Dilip Ghosh has been replaced by the BJP with fashion designer-turned-politician and the party’s legislator from Asansol (South) Assembly constituency in West Burdwan District, Agnimitra Paul.
On the other hand, the Trinamool Congress has fielded actress-turned-politician and the party’s legislator from Medinipur Assembly in the same district, June Malia.
According to party insiders, June Malia’s nomination was a decision taken out of compulsion to avoid infighting in the West Midnapore District leadership over the choice of any candidate having roots there.
As the seat sharing talks between the Left Front and Congress failed in this constituency, the Left Front ally CPI has fielded Biplab Bhatta and the Congress Sambhunath Chattopadhyay.
Political observers say that with the Congress and CPI fielding candidates separately, the contest will largely be between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress.
The BJP’s Agnimitra Paul has three major advantages. First, the comfortable victory margin of her party in the 2019 polls is keeping her a few steps ahead in the race.
Second, during the last five years, Dilip Ghosh has not only strategically nurtured the constituency but has also structured the scattered organisational network there.
Third, given the infighting in the Trinamool Congress in the district, the possibility of a section of the party machinery becoming deliberately inactive cannot be ruled out.
However, the four-cornered contest has given an opportunity this time to the Trinamool Congress’ June Malia to pose a tough challenge to her competition.
In the event of consolidation of the dedicated vote bank of the ruling party and the division in the anti-Trinamool Congress and anti-BJP votes between the Congress and CPI candidates, June Malia can have a statistical advantage.
Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency had been a traditional CPI bastion since 1980, gifting the Indian Parliament iconic parliamentarians and orators like late Narayan Choubey and late Indrajit Gupta.
Even in the midst of the massive Trinamool Congress wave in 2009, CPI’s Prabodh Panda managed a victory there by a margin of around 50,000 votes.
However, the equation changed in 2014, with Trinamool Congress candidate and actress-turned-politician Sandhya Roy getting elected from the constituency.
The equation changed again in 2019, with the BJP’s Dilip Ghosh emerging as the victor.
It has a strength of around 15 lakh voters and the majority of the population is dependent on agriculture there.
IIT, Kharagpur and Kalaikunda Airbase of the Indian Air Force are located in this constituency.
–IANS
src/rad
National
Defence Ministry: Year 2025 will be year of reforms
On Wednesday, the Defence Ministry announced that 2025 will be designated as the “Year of Reforms,” with a primary focus on establishing integrated theatre commands to enhance collaboration among the three branches of the military.
These reforms are aimed at transforming the armed forces into a technologically advanced, combat-ready force capable of executing multi-domain integrated operations, the ministry stated.
The initiative will emphasize emerging domains such as cyber and space, alongside cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, hypersonics, and robotics.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the “Year of Reforms” as a pivotal milestone in the modernization of the armed forces.
“It will set the stage for significant advancements in the nation’s defense capabilities, ensuring the security and sovereignty of India in the face of 21st-century challenges,” he said.
National
A 3.2 magnitude tremor struck Gujarat’s Kutch district on Wednesday morning
A 3.2 magnitude tremor struck Gujarat’s Kutch district on Wednesday morning, according to the Institute of Seismological Research (ISR).
The district administration reported no casualties or property damage following the quake.
The tremor occurred at 10:24 am, with its epicenter located 23 kilometers north-northeast (NNE) of Bhachau, as per the Gandhinagar-based ISR.
Last month, the region experienced four seismic events exceeding a magnitude of 3, including a 3.2 magnitude tremor just three days ago, with its epicenter also near Bhachau.
Earlier tremors in the area included a 3.7 magnitude earthquake on December 23 and a 3.2 magnitude event on December 7, according to ISR reports.
Kutch was also jolted by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake on November 18, 2024. On November 15, a 4.2 magnitude quake hit Patan in north Gujarat, based on ISR data.
Gujarat is considered a high-risk earthquake zone, having experienced nine major earthquakes over the past 200 years, according to the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA). The 2001 earthquake in Kutch, which occurred on January 26, was the third-largest and second-most destructive in India in the last two centuries, according to the GSDMA.
National
Diljit Dosanjh faces legal action over concert songs
Singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh’s much-anticipated New Year’s Eve concert in Ludhiana faced legal hurdles after a complaint was filed by Punditrao Dharenavar, an assistant professor from Chandigarh.
Following the complaint, the Deputy Director of the Women and Child Department, Government of Punjab, issued a formal notice to Ludhiana’s District Commissioner, urging them to prohibit Dosanjh from performing specific songs during his live show on December 31, 2024.
The notice specifically targets songs accused of promoting alcohol, including Patiala Peg, 5 Tara Theke, and Case (Jeeb Vicho Feem Labbiya), even if the lyrics are slightly modified. The complaint points to previous warnings issued to Dosanjh by various commissions advising against performing these controversial tracks.
Despite these warnings, the singer allegedly continues to perform the songs with minor alterations. Dharenavar raised serious concerns about the influence of such music on young audiences, especially when minors are present at live events.
Adding to the controversy, Dharenavar referenced a 2019 Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling, which directed law enforcement to ensure that songs promoting alcohol, drugs, or violence are not played at public events, including concerts. This ruling underscores the legal basis for the complaint and has further intensified the scrutiny surrounding the event.
National
UP Minister’s convoy overturns, 5 person injured
Five people sustained injuries when a vehicle in the convoy of Uttar Pradesh Minister and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad overturned into a ditch near Januan village in the Khejuri Police Station area of Ballia district late last night.
Sanjay Nishad shared details of the incident, stating that the accident injured five party workers, including four women.
“I was traveling with the convoy to participate in the Constitutional Rights Yatra organized by the party on Tuesday night. Near Januan village in the Khejuri area, one of the vehicles following the convoy lost control while trying to avoid an animal and overturned into a ditch,” Nishad explained.
The injured individuals have been identified as Rakesh Nishad, Ramrati, Usha, Geeta, and Iravati Nishad.
Senior police and administrative officials quickly arrived at the scene following the incident to oversee the situation.
National
Suchir Balaji’s mother alleges Murder
The mother of Suchir Balaji, a 26-year-old former OpenAI researcher found dead after accusing the company of copyright violations, has alleged that her son was “murdered” and called for a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe.
Poornima Rao, Suchir’s mother, claimed her son’s death was a “cold-blooded murder” that authorities wrongly ruled as suicide. She further disclosed that a private autopsy report conflicted with the findings of the initial police investigation.
Rao alleged that her son’s apartment had been “ransacked” and cited evidence of a struggle in the bathroom, including bloodstains that suggested he had been assaulted.
“We hired a private investigator and conducted a second autopsy to uncover the truth. The private autopsy does not confirm the cause of death stated by the police. Suchir’s apartment was ransacked, there were signs of a struggle in the bathroom, and it appears he was hit based on blood spots. This is a cold-blooded murder being misclassified as a suicide. Lobbying in San Francisco won’t deter us from seeking justice. We demand an FBI investigation,” Rao wrote on X.
Elon Musk reacted to Rao’s post, commenting, “This doesn’t seem like a suicide.”
Balaji was discovered dead in his San Francisco apartment months after accusing OpenAI of violating copyright laws during the development of ChatGPT, as reported by Fox News. Despite these claims, the San Francisco Police Department found no evidence of foul play and ruled the death a suicide.
On October 24, shortly before his death, Balaji voiced doubts about the “fair use” defense in generative artificial intelligence. “I recently participated in a NYT story about fair use and generative AI, and why I’m skeptical ‘fair use’ would be a plausible defense for a lot of generative AI products,” he wrote on X.
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